Crossing the Tees Book Festival is delighted to announce the appointment of their first official festival co-ordinator, tasked with putting together a programme of fun, exciting and interesting book-based events with libraries across the five boroughs of Teesside in June next year.
Kirsten Luckins is a freelance producer based in Hartlepool, who specialises in creating live literature events and community writing projects. She’s the director of the Tees Women Poets collective, who run writing walks and a monthly open mic with Stockton Libraries amongst their many activities, and formerly produced events for national spoken word charity Apples and Snakes from her hot desk in ARC Stockton. Kirsten says
“I’m so excited to start working not just with poetry but with all the other fantastic genres of writing out there. Crossing the Tees will always champion local and regional writing talent, whilst bringing you a great selection of national names. We’re working to an upbeat theme of recovery, happiness, and wholeness in 2022 – our strapline is ‘We Hope This Finds You Well’. We’ll make sure there are accessible digital and hybrid events as well as outdoor and in-person, so we can connect with as many people as possible”
Though it will be some time before the line-up of author events and workshops is confirmed, festival-goers and library-lovers should expect some slightly unusual ways to get involved. Follow @CrossingtheTees on Twitter or join the Facebook Group to be first to find out about special guests, screenings and streamings, social media shenanigans, artist commissions, and opportunities to volunteer.